, 1887-08-18

| tiic iilHlS bTluSc anu Wlln so HlnCll
of its aid the fifty men went to work to
subdue the fire, For hours they fought
like fiends and for four hours the vic.
tory hung in the balance. Earth was
the only weapon with which the fire
could be fought, so the attempt was
made to put it out. There was no pick
or shovel to dig it up. No basket or
barrel to carry it in, so desperately
they dug their fingers down into the
earth which long drouth had baked
as hard as stone and heaped the
precious handfuls thus hardly won
upon the encroaching flames, and with
this earth work built handful by hand
full kept back the flames.
While this was going ON the other
brave men crept underneath the fire
and the wooden bars which held pris-
oner so many precious lives, and with
prices OF board, and sometimes their
hands beat back the flames. When
they flashed alongside some unfortun-
ate who was pinned down by O. beam
it looked as though his death by fire
was certain. While the fight was thus
going on the ears of the workers were
filled with the groans of dying men,
the anguished entreaties of those
whose death seemed certain
unless the terrible blaze could be ex-
| tinguished. The cries of those that
were too badly hurt to care in what
manner the end was brought about, so
that it was quick. So they dug up the
earth with their hands, reckless of the
| blood streaming out from their broken
tinger-nails, and heaping it up in little
mounds, while all the time came the
heartrending cry, "For Gods sake
| don't let us burn to DEATH" But final
ly the victory was won, the fire was
put out after four hours of fighting,
and as the last spark died away light
came up in the east to take
their place and down it came upon
scene of horror. While the
fight had been going on, men
had been dying and there were not
so many wounded to take out of the
wreck as there had been four hours be-
fore, but in the meantime the country
had been aroused, help had come from
Chatsworth, Forrest and Piper City.
AS the dead were laid reverently along
side each other out in the corn fields,
there were ready hands to take them
into Chatsworth, while some of the
wounded were carried to Piper City.
One hundred and eighteen was the
awful pile OF the dead, while the
wounded number four times that many.
The full number of the dead cannot be
told for days.
The town Of Chatsworth was turned
into a morgue to-day. The town hall,
l,nu &c, cvs, 1n
all full of dead bodies, while every
house in the little village had its quota
of the wounded. There were over one
hundred corpses laying in the extem-
porized dead houses. Every man and
woman was turned into an amateur,
but jealous nurse. Over in the lum-
ber yard the noise of hammers and
saws rang out in the air and the busy
carpenters were making rough collins
to carry to their homes the dead bodies
of the excursionists, who, twelve hours
before had left their homes full of
the pleasurable expectations of the
enjoyment they were going to
have during the vacation which
had began. When the news of the
disaster was first flashed over the wires
prompt aid was at once sent. DIR. Steel,
chief surgeon of the Toledo, Peoria &
Warsaw, came at once on special
train and with him two other surgeons
and their assistants from Peoria.
Drs. Martin, Baker, Floyd and John
son also came, and from every city
whence the excursionists came ply
sicians and friends hurried on to help
them. Peoria had also delegations OF
the Redmen and Ancient Order of
Workmen, numbers of both societies
being on the i'll fated train. Soon
after o'clock in the morning there
were plenty of people to do the
work that needed prompt attention.
The town hall was turned into the
main hospital, and in it anxious rela-
tives and sorrowful friends sat tanning
the sufferers faces, queerying the at
tending surgeon as l,e bound up the
wounds and insisted that they must be
home. Down in the dead houses
mothers, husbands, brothers, sisters,
wives and children tearfully inspected
each face as it was uncovered, and
sighed as the features were unknown,
or cried out in anguish when the we'll
known face, fearfully mangled but yet
recognizable, was uncovered. The
entire capacity of the village was tax
ed, and kind hearted women drove in
from miles to give their gentle aid to
the sufferers.
Dr. Hason, OF Fort Madison, Iowa,
says the train was running thirty
miles an hour. He felt sudden jar
and found himself and wife fastened
under the seats; he pulled the backs
off of two seats before he could
get his wife out; she was bruised on
the body and both feet mashed,
her shoulders was dislocated and had
to be pulled into place as soon as she
could get out of the wreck and in help
ing others pulled it out of place again
and had to have it pulled in place
second time. There were nine persons